Jersey Roots is a look at the history of Monmouth and Ocean counties. Have a local historical topic you would like more information about? Contact Erik Larsen at elarsen@app.com.

TOMS RIVER – Out of the ashes of the downtown fire in May, which has left a landmark building slated for demolition, a local historian hopes to look beneath its ruins and peel back the layers of time for evidence of this town's colonial past.

About half a block in length, the gutted structure sits along Robbins Street across from the Toms River Town Hall on land where a New Jersey militia-held fort stood during the American Revolution.

It was here on May 15 that a presumed electrical fire devastated the stores and offices of 15 commercial and public tenants leasing space inside a complex that was built a century ago. In 1782, on the same site, nine American patriots were killed during a British sneak attack upon what was then a crude log fort. The so-called "blockhouse" had been built as a lookout over the Toms River to protect the village that also bears its name.

As the centuries passed and the downtown grew, the footprint of the fort disappeared beneath landscaping, sidewalks, streets and the building that was destroyed two months ago. That structure was built about 1916 and has undergone several aesthetic changes over the past century.

"I have alerted all here that depending upon how far into the ground the demolition goes, there might be some artifacts," said Township Clerk J. Mark Mutter, who is also the official historian of Toms River and a former mayor.

Mutter said when Ocean County rebuilt Water Street in the 1980s, construction workers unearthed a small cannonball from the period.

"The fort was on the crest of Robbins Street on the bluff overlooking the river," Mutter said. "The Americans thought the British would come by river and attack from the south — they came from the east (by land and) by surprise."

The incursion by British forces at the fort was the third in five years and the most devastating on the village of Toms River, which the British subsequently burned to the ground and triggered an international incident with the execution of the the commander of the blockhouse, Capt. Joshua Huddy, who was taken prisoner and later hanged at a location near Sandy Hook.

A modest monument to what is today largely regarded as a massacre — or Toms River's Alamo — was placed along Robbins Street directly across from the now burned-out building, a structure that must be knocked down due to the extent of the damage that resulted from the fire.

In 1992 for the 225th anniversary of the township, historians constructed a replica of the blockhouse that was accurate to the original's proportions and wooden composition, but not its location in Huddy Park on the bank of the Toms River.

"Huddy Park was a swamp during the revolution," Mutter said. "It was purchased by the township in 1903 after voter referendum and made into hard land, man-made, from river spoils — our first municipal park. We took the township's history sometime thereafter and named it 'Huddy Park' for Joshua Huddy who commanded the fort unsuccessfully in 1782."

No firm date has been scheduled for demolition, said Ken Anderson, Toms River's construction code officer.

"The building cannot be removed until an in-depth environmental study is performed," Anderson said. "This is basically a testing of all building materials for the presence of asbestos. Last word from the building owners was that this testing was taking place this week. Due to the structural condition of the building, it will take a bit longer than a typical study."

The presence of asbestos would require a protected type of demolition to ensure no particles become airborne during the process, he said.

In the meantime, the owners of the building — 27 Washington Street Associates — has been made been aware of Mutter's desire to explore the site upon removal of the building.

"There would be a small window of opportunity for this to occur as the site must be graded off to prevent hazardous conditions and/or water accumulation," Anderson said.